On the Street

Chef Laura Owen, Bayview Restaurant
"The prime example is the cost of flour — that’s what everybody’s been talking about. Our purveyor (of breads) is paying more than 120 percent more for his raw ingredients, but he wants to keep his prices steady, too. Some purveyors are adding fuel surcharges to deliveries. Our aim is to keep our eyes on the market and adjust accordingly. We don’t want to raise prices with the economy being what it is, so we have to be more efficient and effective."

Annie Feinman, The Chef’s Express
"We have made a lot of adaptations, number one being in our specials, trying to intermingle our other food products in meals. Our multigrain bread supplier has raised prices by $1.12. We’re using some of our breakfast ingredients for lunches as well, for example corn beef hash is what I also use to make Reuben sandwiches. The idea is no wastage. So, for example, we use the ends of bread to bake croutons, and if we use bacon one day, we can chop it and use it in a Cobb salad the next day. Also we sell fresh produce, so that offsets the cost of the vegetables we use in the restaurant."

Diana Perez, Margarita’s (Mexican restaurant)
"As a business person, you have to balance out the costs of the food with labor. I’ve been keeping low on labor costs, because we don’t feel we have to raise our prices. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have customers. We’ve been noticing higher costs for about a year, especially flour and rice. There are some limits on those, but we are not affected. Also, our meals are prepared fresh, and we’re working on increasing our customers by offering more specials to encourage people to come here."